Newspapers push Trump administration to end tariffs on Canadian newsprint

The Trump administration on Thursday said it would implement a lower tariff on Canadian newsprint than initially announced but would also impose tariffs on some of the country’s paper companies.

The New York Times reported that the tariff on newsprint will now be capped at 16.88 percent instead of the originally announced 22 percent, and will only apply to Canada’s Catalyst Paper Company.

The administration will also hit Canadian paper manufacturers that receive government subsidies with tariffs up to 9.81 percent, according to the Times.

{mosads}

“While not surprised, we’re disappointed with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to keep these unwarranted duties in place, albeit at a lower rate,” Ned Dwyer, the president of Catalyst Paper, said in a statement.

The original tariffs on newsprint went into effect in January and were put in place by the Trump administration after a complaint from a paper plant in Washington state.

Leaders in the newsprint industry said the lowering of the tariffs would help with costs, but told the Times that they will likely still struggle with the increases.

Andrew Johnson, the president of the National Newspaper Association, told the Times that small, local papers have been most strongly affected by the tariffs.

“No one is going to work for free and no one is going to be covering the local stories that need to be told or local government,” he said. “The threat of this tariff is still looming over us.”

The Tampa Bay Times earlier this year blamed dozens of layoffs on the newsprint tariffs.

And about a dozen members of Congress testified against the tariffs during an International Trade Commission hearing last month, arguing the measures would hurt local news coverage.